Octavius 26.11 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: The magus Hostanes acknowledged the true God, his angels, and hostile demons.

Latin text · CSEL 2:38

eorum magorum et eloquio et negotio primus Hostanes et uerum Deum merita maiestate prosequitur et angelos, id est ministros et nuntios Dei sed ueri, eius uenerationi nouit adsistere, ut et nutu ipso et uultu domini territi contremescant. idem etiam daemonas prodidit terrenos, uagos, humanitatis inimicos.

English · Claude translation

Of these magicians, the first both in eloquence and in practice, Hostanes, both honours the true God with the majesty due him and knows that angels, that is, ministers and messengers of the true God, stand by to venerate him, so that they tremble, terrified at the very nod and look of their Lord. The same man also made known that demons are earthly, wandering, enemies of humanity.

About this passage

Source

CSEL 2:38 · Karl Halm, ed., M. Minucii Felicis Octavius; Iulii Firmici Materni Liber de errore profanarum religionum, CSEL 2 (Vienna: Gerold, 1867), 1–56 · Latin text: K. Halm (CSEL 2, 1867), digitized by Open Greek and Latin, University of Leipzig (csel-dev), CC BY-SA 4.0

Text

As printed in CSEL 2. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.

Translation

Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.

Compare

Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 4 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made) · Divided there by chapter only.

Cite this passage

Minucius Felix, Oct. 26.11 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/26/11/).

Plain text

Minucius Felix, Oct. 26.11 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/26/11/).